How the NRA Works

A model walks the runway during the NRA Concealed Carry Fashion Show on Aug. 25, 2017 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. JOSHUA LOTT/AFP/Getty Images

So, what is the NRA all about? Let's quote from the NRA's own membership webpage: "The NRA is America's preeminent gun rights organization, made up of nearly five million members. Together, we fight and win the toughest battles for the Second Amendment, all while offering the best firearms educational programs in the country.

Every day, the NRA fights back against politicians, judges, and bureaucrats who want to regulate, restrict, and ultimately, destroy your Second Amendment freedom."

As you can see, defending the Second Amendment is the NRA's primary mission, while other activities are secondary. If you agree with the NRA's mission and goals, joining is as simple as going to its website and filling out the online application. There are distinctions of membership to choose from:

You also get to choose a thank-you gift, which may be a duffel bag, a cap or a knife — but no gun.

Charlton Heston

The late Hollywood actor Charlton Heston starred in films such as "Ben Hur," "Planet of the Apes" and "The Ten Commandments." But Heston, who grew up in a small town in Michigan where he learned to hunt and fish, also had a prominent second career with the National Rifle Association, where he served as president in 1998. At the NRA's annual convention in 2000, he famously showed defiance against gun control advocates by waving a replica of a colonial musket overhead and proclaiming that it would have to be taken "from my cold, dead hands" [source: Berkvist].